Multidimensional Marine Data: The next frontier for Hydrographic Offices

Abstract

Hydrographic offices today exist in a world of accelerating technological change that is influencing human behavior, creating new needs and ways for exploiting data to understand our world. Hydrographic offices have traditionally been the producers of nautical information for safety of navigation. By the end of the 20th century, with the appearance of the IHO S-57 Standard, their main challenge was to evolve into a central database production system. Now, the main challenge and opportunity is to evolve from there into a true geospatial agency, developing a hydrospatial information system capable of providing products and services for multidimensional analysis and decision-making through apps and web browsers at the "speed of trust." The technology to do this is there; it is a matter of vision and desire to move toward the next frontier.